


If the Boot Fits...

by TheRebelFlower



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26400025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRebelFlower/pseuds/TheRebelFlower
Summary: When a Kyrano stands down, another one must step up.
Relationships: Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano/Scott Tracy
Comments: 10
Kudos: 24





	If the Boot Fits...

“What are you doing?”

Kayo stood frozen at the doorstep to her father’s room, trying to control the dread welling up inside of her. She had been gone most of the afternoon on a snorkeling trip with Gordon and John, taking full advantage of her holidays from university, and was fetching Kyrano for dinner after changing in her own room.

The last thing she expected when she opened the door was to find her father coming and going between his dresser and his bed, obviously in the process of packing his things. He gave her a passing glance as he moved, his green eyes weary and dull.

She stepped inside, letting the door close and offering them some privacy. “Father?” she tried again.

Kyrano turned to make another trip to the dresser, but stopped halfway to face her. He looked pale, defeated. A shadow of himself. “It’s been six months, Tanusha. My brother has fled. _He_ ’s gone. We have no business here anymore. Your holidays are nearly over. It’s time to go.”

She should have felt that something was off the second she arrived on Tracy Island. Her instincts were usually good for that. But she had been overjoyed at seeing the others again—even little Alan was here this time—and had been happy to indulge in the activities she had missed. Life was slowly returning to normal and time had started to heal wounds, or so she had mistakenly thought...

She knew that her father was deeply affected by Jeff Tracy’s sudden and tragic death, by the fact that the Hood had escaped just in time, while Jeff hadn’t. That the Hood was responsible for five brothers losing their father.

The Hood.

Kyrano’s own half-brother.

Her uncle.

Kayo almost felt physically ill. She watched on, stunned, as he continued to pack. She had stayed on the island for a little while when Jeff had disappeared to support her father and those she considered her brothers. Then, the university session had started again and both her father and Sally Tracy, the brothers’ grandmother, had insisted that she went. She felt guilty she had now. “What about security for the island? For International Rescue? What about his legacy? His sons?” she asked.

Surely reminding him of his duty and the pledge he had made to Jeff would shake her father enough to make him come to his senses?

“Do you think they will hold up all of this on their own?” Kyrano asked, waving his arm around to include the whole island and business. “It will be dismantled. The GDF will take over.”

“Wouldn’t it be your responsibility as a friend and as someone who has been with Jeff all these years to make sure that it _doesn’t_ get dismantled? What about... uncle? He’s still out there. Won’t the Tracys need support and protection?” She had hesitated to bring out the subject, but she felt like it was her last trump card.

Kyrano snorted in disdain. “How good was I to support Jeff when he was there? How well did I protect him? _I flew him to his death_ when I helped him get aboard the Zero-X! My brother won! How can I forgive myself for that, daughter?”

“It was a rescue like another one, you couldn’t know—”

Kyrano silenced her with a stare. “We are leaving. I’ll announce it during dinner.”

***

Virgil had made pot roast. It smelled and looked delicious. When he served her a hearty portion and set the plate in front of her, Kayo felt like throwing up. She didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want her father to do something he would regret later. She sat silently next to Alan, a carefully neutral expression set on her face, struggling not to take the dinner roll on her bread plate and tear it apart.

Kyrano almost looked serene. He smiled, interacted with the family and did honor to the meal. It was as if he had made peace with his decision and a weight had lifted off his shoulders. She forced a few bites down, fiddling with her food to make it look like she ate more than she actually had.

She hurried to help clear out the plates when the main course was done, piling them up and scraping the other’s leftovers over hers—not that there were many with five guys around the table—and took refuge behind the counter, taking her time to take out what was required for dessert. She nearly dropped the apple pie she was holding when she heard him say: “I have an announcement to make.”

She glanced up and her eyes met Scott’s. He frowned at her deer-in-the-headlights expression, but remained quiet. Everyone turned their attention toward Jeff’s chief of security. She remained where she was.

“I have given a lot of thought to what I am about to tell you, but now I feel it’s time.” He took a deep breath. “I have decided to resign from my position. I am moving on.”

You could have heard a pin drop as everyone stared at him in surprise and disbelief for a moment.

“Do you need a vacation? You can take a few weeks to think this through,” Sally suggested once she found her voice again.

He shook his head. “As I said, I have made my mind. There’s nothing holding me back here. I can give you recommendations for my replacement if you want.”

“When would you be leaving?”

“When Tanusha’s holidays are over. We’ll both leave at the same time.”

Kayo felt Scott’s eyes on her again, but she kept hers on the pie in front of her.

“Would you be going back to England too?” Virgil asked.

Kyrano opened his mouth to speak, but the comms system on the table bleeped with an incoming emergency message. No one could tell exactly if it was a relief or a hindrance at this point.

“We’ll continue this discussion when we come back,” Scott stated, before turning to Virgil and John. “Come on guys, let’s go!”

All three eldest brothers rushed out of the kitchen to answer the call. An awkward silence fell over the table as the remaining diners could hear muffled speaking for upstairs, then rushed steps as each brother ran to their chutes.

Gordon turned to his younger brother. “Hey Al! Wanna go make a giant chain of exploding sticks around the lounge?”

He knew that his voice had sounded a little too over-enthusiastic, but Alan didn’t seem to notice; the ten-year old’s eyes lit up in joyful expectation. “Can we?”

“Sure! We can try to do the whole circle this time!”

They both stood up and Alan hurried toward the stairs. Gordon followed him at a more sedate pace. As he walked by his grandmother, Sally grabbed his arm and pulled him close to kiss his cheek, thanking him for his quick thinking—even if she knew she was going to have to pick up hundreds of stray popsicle sticks after they went flying in all directions. Gordon gave her a one-armed hug in return, then followed his little brother out.

The large bay windows shut automatically in preparation for One’s launch. Kyrano, Sally and Kayo watched in silence as the silver rocket zoomed by them. The bay windows reopened and they heard the sonic boom as Scott activated his ship’s afterburners.

Kyrano looked at the family matriarch, who was sitting across from him and looking back at him with a sad expression on her face. “I’m not happy here anymore, Sally,” he said simply.

“I’m sad to hear it.”

“I need to get away.”

Sally nodded sadly. “You’ll always be welcome here.”

Kayo thought it was the perfect moment to turn around and go put the pie back in the refrigerator. She heard her father raise heavily from his chair, but rearranged items on the shelves until he left.

“He’s gone.”

The old woman’s words made her release the breath she didn’t realize she was holding and she went to pour two mugs of coffee from the machine they had turned on earlier for dinner. She added a little sugar in her mug, some cream and sugar in Sally's, then shuffled back to the table. She sat down with a glum expression on her face. “I don’t even know what to say,” she finally murmured, looking at her reflection in her mug. “I was totally blindsided; I was made aware of this only minutes before we came down for dinner.”

Sally reached over and touched Kayo’s arm. She loved the young woman like a granddaughter and they had developed a true connection over the years. “No one is blaming you, dear.”

Kayo seemed to shrink in her seat. “What have I done wrong, Grandma? I thought we were all healing, that Father was doing better. I know I haven’t been here physically but I kept in touch... I saw his garden, it’s beautiful, he started tending it again.”

“You have done nothing wrong. People have to choose their own paths and we can only guide them as best as we can if they are willing to listen.”

Kayo drank some coffee, more to regain her composure than because she was thirsty. Sally took her hand and the young woman found that she had to drink a little more. She blinked furiously when she set her mug down. Crying wouldn’t help anything. “My uncle is still at large. The island will be vulnerable. Father cannot leave. We cannot... this is our home now.”

She stood up suddenly. She was a Kyrano too. She was not going down without a fight. “He _cannot_ leave,” she repeated, leaving the room with a determined step.

Sally sat, alone, looking at the bread basket on the table but not seeing it. The kitchen had never felt so empty.

***

Cave-ins were always tricky. They required brute force to remove debris, rocks and parts of buildings, but they also required finesse and careful planning so that everything didn’t come crashing down on everyone. It had taken hours of Virgil holding debris and moving them with his exo-suit and John calculating the next move and talking to the five people trapped underneath to reassure them. As ill at ease his middle brother was in social situations, his focus when working with victims and his ability to multitask without missing a beat never failed to impress Scott.

He was proud of his brothers, of what they were accomplishing, of how they were building on their father’s fledgling rescue organization and improving it constantly. He hoped that he was watching from above and that he thought they were making _him_ proud too.

They had come back home after midnight, tired, dirty, but with the euphoric feeling of having saved someone. It had put a balm over today’s less glorious news of the Kyranos’ departure, at least for a moment.

Now however, as he sat at his father’s desk at an indecent hour, trying to complete his report, it trickled over him and he realized that he would have to do something about it. He hadn’t expected that from his father’s trusted partner and friend and it was one heck of a shock. He would be very sad to see him go. To see _them_ go. Kayo was very attached to her father, especially after she had lost her mother, and where he went, she was likely to follow. He sighed, frustrated, burying his face into his hands and rubbing at the space between his eyebrows with his fingers to ward off a headache.

“I’ll take his place.”

Startled, he looked up to find Kayo standing in front of the desk. How she had managed to cross the whole lounge without him noticing or without stepping on those popsicle sticks—what _happened_ while they were out on the rescue?—was beyond him. She had always been silent and stealthy. He found it extremely attractive and scary at the same time.

She was still wearing the clothes she was during the day, so she hadn’t gone to bed. Her expression was serious and he wondered for a moment if the sheen he saw in her eyes was due to the computer screen glare or something else. She held herself a little stiffly, she was nervous, but he knew better than to interrupt her if she had something to say. She looked him in the eye, before saying: “My father is saying International Rescue will fizzle out and be dismantled once you grow tired of it. He doesn’t believe in it anymore.” Scott opened his mouth to protest but she continued: “I do. I believe in you.”

His heart missed a beat. Her stare was intense, she looked so determined... _Lord, Kayo..._

“If you decide to continue to run it, I’ll take his place. I’ll stay. I’ll be the best chief of security there is. We’ll make this work.”

She held out her hand.

 _I think I’m falling in love with you..._ He glanced at her hand, but looked at her eyes again. “What about uni?” he asked, dumbstruck and feeling like he wasn’t coming up with the right questions.

She didn’t seem fazed by it. “I can find out if I can complete my semester from here.” She smirked. “Otherwise, I’m sure I could figure something out with my employer if I get the job.”

“You’re part of the family, Kayo. Stop that. We’d be partners in this. Just like my brothers are,” he protested, “But what about Kyrano?” he felt he had to ask.

She shook her head. “He’s leaving. He’s stubborn.” She didn’t offer more details and he thought it wiser not to pry.

“I’m sorry.”

“Family trait.” Her voice was a little bitter but her mouth quirked.

Scott welcomed the butterflies as they spread in his stomach. 

She moved her hand forward to draw attention to it. “In my case however, it means I’m in for the long run.”

_You have no idea how much I hope so._

He shook her hand.


End file.
